In various commercial and home-based DIY (i.e., Do-it-Yourself) construction and manufacturing concerns, there may arise a need to cut large sheets of material into smaller panels of specific shapes and dimensions. Typical sheet materials may include wood, wood composition material (e.g., plywood), melamine (for carpentry, cabinetry, furniture manufacture, etc.), aluminum, plastic (for the signage construction) and the like. Generally, the size of these sheets prohibit the use of readily available and inexpensive table saws and require instead the less readily available and more expensive panel saws.
Panel saws may come in two orientations: a vertical panel saw and a horizontal panel saw, of the two the larger vertical panel saw may offer greater capability and versatility. The panel saws may also varying in expense, complexity, capability; ranging from costly CNC controlled types to less expense manually adjusted panel saws. Generally, usage, space limitation, and monetary concerns determine the selection of type of panel saw.
Panel saws may comprise of a framework, a linear guide, a carriage, and a powered tool (e.g., a powered saw) or knife. The linear guide (e.g., a pair of parallel, spaced-apart railings) could be attached at the framework's top and bottom edges. This placement could substantially provide for a space between the linear guide and front side of the framework through which the material to be cut could pass to come into contact with the tool. The linear guide's placement upon the framework could further place the railings to be generally perpendicular with respect to the bottom edge of the framework generally causing a bisection of the framework.
The carriage could be movably mounted to the linear guide utilizing bearings that ride upon the railings so as to generally locate the carriage between the railing pair. The tool could be mounted on the carriage to allow a cutting surface or element of the tool to be placed between the railing pair as well. The carriage and tool combination could move freely along the length of the linear guide and cut across the width (e.g., height) of the framework, unless locked into place at a desired height on the guide. Some carriage versions may further provide for a rotation of the cutting tool within the carriage to orient the tool for use when the carriage is moved down along the guide or when the carriage is fixed at a point on the guide (and material is being feed into the tool.) By adjusting the orientation of the tool (e.g., powered circular saw) within the carriage, the tool may provide two kinds of cuts: cross cuts (e.g., vertical/widthwise) or rip cuts (e.g., horizontal/lengthwise).
For example, when the rip cut is desired, the carriage/tool combination could be fixed at a certain position on the linear guide (e.g., at the height on the linear guide where the rip cut will occur on the material being inserted into the framework) and with the orientation of the cutting surface/element (e.g., saw blade) being parallel to the bottom edge of the framework (e.g., perpendicular to the railings of the linear guide. When the tool is activated, the operator could feed a sheet of material into the framework. This feeding action could result in the material being moved into the powered saw at a fixed height to allow the saw blade to impart a rip cut (e.g., a horizontal cut at a constant height) in the material.
If on the other hand the cross cut is desired then the cutting surface/element could be oriented perpendicular to the bottom edge of framework (e.g., parallel to the railings of the linear guide) with the carriage/tool being raised up to the top of the linear guide to generally clear any material that may be loaded or moved into the saw. As the operator places material into the framework and the portion of material to be cut is between the linear guides and the frame work, the operator can lock the portion in place relative to the framework. As power is applied to the tool, the operator could move the carriage along the linear guide to allow the tool to vertically engage the material as fixed proximate to the framework.
While considered a useful tool, one possible operational drawback for a panel saw could be its bulk or size, which generally makes the device otherwise practically non-portable if not purely stationary. Such a lack of mobility could preclude the panel saw from being transported easily from one worksite to another worksite especially for building construction jobs and the like. A panel saw can also exert a large foot print and take up significant operation space especially for DIY (e.g., Do It Yourselfer) or consumer-based usage. A panel saw that can be easily compacted to a storage size much smaller than it operational size could make panel saw easier to transport (e.g., by motor vehicle) as well. Such a compacting frame work could allow the panel saw to move back from a compacted state to operational state without loss of accuracy or cutting ability.
What could be generally needed is a panel saw that could incorporate a simple framework that can easily move into and out of a compact storage and transport without an overall loss of accuracy or cutting ability when placed in the non-compact operating position.